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Thank you for posting this, Richard. This is very close to my church cemetery, but there are no reports of disturbed graves in the area. You'd think the coroner would recognize the woman if she had been a local resident who died recently and her body had been at the morgue. We're not really that populous a county and the woman's death would have been memorable since she died young in her fifties.

The early articles were all stating it was unknown whether she had been embalmed for burial or if she was someone who had willed her body to science. From what I've read, medical cadavers are embalmed with different chemicals and processes than bodies embalmed for funeral viewings and burial, because in the former case the remains will have to last much longer in the medical school, months versus days. I imagine LE would have run tests to see which chemicals were used when she was embalmed, but there's no mention of the results yet.

If she did will her body to science, she's a hero for doing so and her remains deserved far more respect than this. It's upsetting to think of the effects this could have on influencing others' decisions to do the same. I've read an interview with a medical school director in Pittsburgh who said all tissues are accounted for meticulously before being cremated and returned to the family, so this is a mystery.

Thank you for posting the new article, Richrd; it resolved at least some of the speculation from my last post. It doesn't sound as though she willed her body to science since her hair hadn't been shaved. And yes, prayers go out for this caring organ donor. She may well have helped restore someone's sight right in time for Christmas.

An attempt to figure out a timeline, using Richrd's helpful links:

* She passed and was declared dead; within 12 hours she was deemed to be a fit donor and her corneas/eyes were recovered for donation. She almost certainly had a close family member who could confirm she'd wanted to be an organ donor and who went through an interview about her medical history, so the donation was able to go through.

* A funeral viewing, which would have been entirely possible even with the cornea/eye donation, was likely scheduled and the woman's hair was styled for it. (If it was to be a closed-casket service or there was no viewing, it's unlikely this service would have been paid for and/or needed.)

* The viewing took place and someone mutilated her remains sometime after the closing of the casket and before burial. This is where I'm confused; I've attended enough funerals since childhood to know the drill in western PA: the viewing and service are held at the funeral home, the casket is closed and sealed in the presence of the relatives, a final service is held at the church and the casket is taken to the cemetery, and if they wish the family can stay to see the casket lowered into the ground. A procession of cars with funeral home flags follows the hearse from the funeral home to the church and then to the cemetery, and there's not much of a wait from the time the casket is closed at the funeral home until the pall bearers take it out to the hearse. Frankly, it's really confusing how someone with "anatomical knowledge" could have access to the remains in such a short time span, unless the casket was closed and the burial delayed for some reason.

I hope this doesn't come across as insensitive, but while the woman's hair was styled, suggesting she had a funeral viewing, was there also facial makeup (like foundation) and/or the devices that morticians use on the mouth and eyes of the deceased prior to a viewing?

Berosh said further research has expanded the list of places that use cadavers for research and testing, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which uses cadavers to test how the human body reacts to crashes.

Still no word on whether this UID was embalmed for just a funeral viewing or long-term research purposes. I would imagine any agency licensed to use cadavers for research, including the NHTSA, would have ultra-strict standards in place for releasing the remains to the family once they're through with the research. It's good to know LE is considering all possibilities.

Could the eyes have been removed to hinder identification? If the person who removed the head in the first place "has knowledge of anatomy" they certainly could have removed the eyes. Just a thought, since it seems like there's a lot of emphasis being put on the fact that this woman could have been an organ donor.

Then again, why leave a head laying around by a road?

​

Happiness...consists in giving, and in serving others.
- Henry Drummond

As a licensed funeral director, it sounds to me like she was more likely embalmed for viewing purposes and not for medical school purposes. My boss used to be contracted to embalm bodies for the medical schools in the area and told me that preservation, not the appearance of the deceased, was the main purposes. Therefore, much stronger solutions of formaldehyde were used because of the length of time that students would be studying and working on a body. Once the medical schools were done with them, my boss told me they were mostly skeletonized (most likely from dissection) and he would have the bodies cremated.

I've styled hair and put on makeup for bodies that were to have a closed casket viewing on the chance that the family may want to see the person. It is not uncommon that the family members may request to see their loved one for a few minutes even if they aren't going to have a formal open casket viewing. We've had situations where we didn't even charge for hairdressing since we do it ourselves and don't have an outside person come in.

It is very possible that a mutilation could occur in a case of a viewing with a cremation. The person is embalmed and hairdressing and cosmetology are performed. And many times, the services are completed at the end of the viewing with no formal "funeral" the following morning. The casket would be left open. We will usually take the person to the crematory the next day providing we have secured the cremation permit and the crematory is open (i.e. Sundays they are usually closed). Hypothetically speaking, it would be possible for a funeral home employee to mutilate the body and then close the cremation casket and have the rest of the body cremated without anyone seeing anything. Now whether or not a worker at the crematory would notice a missing skull in the retort once the cremation container has burned away is another matter altogether.

ETA: It could also be possible for the crematory employee to have access to the bodies once they are dropped off by the funeral director. He or She might be alone with the bodies for long enough periods to do something especially in smaller crematories that may not have a lot of employees.